Container

ABSTRACT

A container is disclosed with a container modification in the form of slanted sides terminating respectively at a bottom residing within a lower horizontal plane and at a top residing within a least one higher horizontal plane. The container is further disclosed to provide containerization, ease of transportation, and accessibility to its use in working on a slanted roofing surface wherein the container, by the resultant relocation of its center of gravity, remains stable on a slanted roofing surface. Further, the container is disclosed to facilitate use as a receptacle in a toss game where articles are tossed, from a distance, into such receptacle. The facilitation results from providing a receptacle target with a lowered facing rim and a stabilizing effect from the slanted sides that limits mis-hits from toppling over the container/receptacle. Other uses are envisioned as well (such as the typical uses of a bucket) within the realm of the instant disclosure.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The invention disclosed herein relates to an improved container for usesin containerizing, transporting and accessing roofing tools whileapplying roofing materials to a roof surface of a building or structure,as well as use in a toss game where the design of the improved containerserves as the receiving object of the toss game. More particularly, thedisclosed improved container invention as a roofing tool container ismade to permit the bucket to rest on a slanted roofing surface withinreach of the roofer to access readily the tools or materials containedtherein to use in applying the roofing material. In addition to roofingtools, the container can also be used to carry liquid materials used ona roof, such as hot tar and paint. Additionally, the improved containerinvention is designed beneficially for use in receiving tossed objectsin a tossing game.

2. Description of the Prior Art

While roofing materials generally are specific to their purpose andperformance requirements on the building or other structure to whichthey may be applied, the tools used in their application are generallythe same or similar tools, e.g., hammer and nails, for other uses in thecarpentry trade for erecting and covering walls and flooring of abuilding. So, it is natural that storing (in the garage or other storagelocation), transporting (to the worksite) and accessing (during use)such tools during construction activities has not taken on specializedperformance design requirements specific to roofing. Yet, the workinglocation and conditions confronted when applying roofing materials onroofs of a building or other structure are very different fromconstructing and applying materials on horizontal and vertical elementsof a building. The typical, fairly dramatic, slanted nature of roofsurfaces that must be covered, usually with multiple layers of roofingmaterials, makes containerization, transportation and accessibility ofthe necessary tools required for their application potentially bothunsafe and unreliable while on the roof.

For example, the typical means for storing, transporting and accessingcarpentry tools on-the-job, while adequate for most demands of theconstruction workplace they are not designed to perform as successfullyfor roofing applications. Most, if not all are designed for stabilityand storage capacity, which generally requires a uniformly flat bottomsurface. Examples of such tool containment devices are provided in FIGS.1-3. This works well when their location for accessibility involves jobson horizontal or vertical surfaces. It does not work so well when thelocation for accessibility is on a slanted roof. The current state ofthe art does not address this particular work situation in the manner ofthe disclosed invention container. One temptation to address thestability problem is to carry the roofing tools to the roof in a normalflat bottomed carrier (as shown in FIG. 1) and placing standing nails ornailing a board in the roof along the down-side portion of the toolcarrier to prevent the tool container from sliding off the roof ortipping over and spilling its contents, unnecessarily creating nailholes in the roof. Thus, there remains a need for an article toadequately contain the tools necessary to transport to a roofing surfaceworksite and also provide stability and accessibility of said toolsduring their use in covering the roof surface with the required roofingmaterials. Such standard prior art tool containment articles are shownin FIGS. 2-4.

Additionally, most toss games are based on tossing an article, orobject, aimed at landing within a target of drawn concentric circleswithin a landing surface (with point values increasing as the innercircles get smaller) or landing within a receptacle as the target. Inthe case where the target is a receptacle and the receptacle openinglies within a horizontal plane, the accuracy of the toss is amplified inproportion to the increase of difficulty determined by the diameter ofthe receptacle opening. The greater the difficulty with any game,usually the greater the frustration on the part of the gameparticipants. Therefore, it is desirable to adjust the target in amanner to moderate the difficulty to challenge the players withouteliminating a reasonable degree of success. In the first example of atoss game, the obvious modification would be to expand the circulartarget diameter(s) in relation to the size of the tossed object. Also,this is the reason most toss games including the concentric circlescoring method, or multiple holes with different scoring assignments,within a flat board involve tilting the board forward by lifting itupward from the back to provide a slanted landing area and, thereby,achieve a somewhat easier target. In the case of tossing anobject/article into a receptacle, one modification would be that theplane of the circular opening could be tilted toward the player topresent the target opening in a favorable angle for a greater degree ofsuccess. Tilting a normal flat bottomed receptacle (e.g., a bucket)would result in the bucket falling over absent some support under thetilted direction side or some barrier placed under the tilted directionside, as the change in the bucket's center of gravity no longer could besupported by the bottom of the bucket. Of course, once tilted to restthe weight of the bucket on only an edge (or rim) of the bottom surface,would require some supporting mechanism or devices, using a prior artbucket as shown in FIG. 1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed invention container/receptacle is designed to solve theproblems presented by the above disclosed applications by providing aspecially designed container with a slanted bottom (when resting on aslanted surface or when held and carried upright) to provide an improvedroofing tool container and present an improved toss game receptacle. Thedescription of the specialty container's bottom as “slanted” is somewhatarbitrary in that once the bottom is resting on a horizontal surface, itis the sides of the container that appear to be “slanted.” Therefore,this arbitrary nomenclature is to be understood in this regard when theterm “slanted bottom” is used in reference to the invention of the“improved container.”

In particular, one preferred embodiment of the invention is to provide abucket with a slanted bottom. While different angles of the bucketbottom slant can be provided to accommodate a range of degrees of anglesto correspond (generally or specifically) to roof surface angles awayfrom horizontal, angles of slant from 20° to 80° appear to be of mostdesired use. A more preferred useful bucket bottom angle is selectedfrom the group of angles from 40° to 70°. A most preferred bucket bottomangle to accommodate typical roof slants (or pitches) is deemed to be55°. While the “bucket” form of container may be chosen for the greatestadaptability for containing tools of a variety of shapes and sizes, theinvention includes slanted bottomed tool containers of any shape orsizes within the scope of the disclosed invention. Thus, a generallyrectangular tool box provided with a slanted bottom may be constructedand used within the scope of the disclosed invention, as such wouldprovide the requirements of containerization, transportation, andaccessibility at the roofing surface worksite by providing the necessarystability to remain in place on the slanted roofing surface.

Likewise, a receptacle for use as a target in a toss game may be of avariety of shapes. The provision of a receptacle of various shapesprovided with a slanted bottom would provide the desired option ofpresenting the target opening in a favorable angle for a greater degreeof success. A most preferred shape for said receptacle opening is thetraditional circle. Thus, a circular bucket with a slanted bottomprovides a target receptacle with a greater chance of success of thetossed object landing in the receptacle when the bucket opening istilted in the direction of the position of the player tossing thearticle, while at the same time enhancing the stability of thebucket/receptacle by accounting for the change in its center of gravity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows an example of a typical bucket made of a plastic or metalmaterial of limited flexibility for durability when in use. Such abucket is also typical for that used as a tool carrier or for areceptacle to receive an article pitched by a player in a toss game.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a similarly (to FIG. 1) typical bucket as asupport for an insert (usually made of a durable fabric material) forcarrying carpentry or other tools both outside and inside the bucketcontainer.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a tool carrier of a different shape andconstruction material.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective of one preferred embodiment of the inventionimproved container as disclosed herein.

FIG. 5 shows a perspective of the invention improved container restingon a slanted surface, such as a typical roof above a residential orcommercial construction.

FIG. 6 shows a perspective of the invention improved container restingon a horizontal, or flat, surface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention container/receptacle comprising a slanted bottom asdisclosed herein may be of various shapes. The side(s) of thecontainer/receptacle may be continuous to form a circle or an oval or aseries of ripples of similar or a variety of dimensions or sizes.Alternatively, the container/receptacle may have distinct multiple sidesin the form of a triangle, a square, a pentagon, a hexagon, or anynumber of sides. The distinctive feature of the container/receptacle isits slanted bottom, which permits its particular desirability for use inthe manners of a roofing tool container and carrier, as well as areceptacle in a toss game. In particular, the slanted bottom of theinvention container/receptacle particularly facilitates use when aworker must deal with a slanted rooftop as a work surface and must haveaccess to his tools. Likewise, it facilitates such use in a popular gameusing the trademark of “Redneck Horseshoes®,” where plastic bottles,preferably longnecks, are tossed to win points by landing in a bucketsome distance away from the tossing player. In another version of thegame, for play on a concrete or other type of hard surface, the tossedobject can be made of cloth, preferably in the shape of a longneckbottle, if specific to Redneck Horseshoes®, and filled with particulatematerial, such as beans, corn, or sand. In each case, the slanted bottomportion of the invention container/receptacle must be reasonably flat(very near horizontal) to maintain stability during use. Its use as atool container resting on a slanted roof changes the center of gravityfrom a traditional bucket (or other container without a slanted bottom),which permits it to remain stable where a traditional bucket (having itsbottom on a plane reasonably perpendicular to its sides) would tip overand cause the tools to fall out of the container and possibly off theroof. Similarly, as a receptacle for a toss game it is more stable and,thus, more resistant to tipping over when hit at different angles by thetossed articles as compared to a traditional bucket having a higher andmore centric center of gravity. Any tipping over of the receptaclebucket between tosses causes an interruption in the game to halt tossesin order to upright the receptacle.

The materials used in manufacturing the disclosed invention improvedcontainer should be materials that will withstand anticipated uses inconstruction and as a receptacle for thrown articles made of a varietyof materials from relatively soft or softened (by their packing orpackaging) materials up to relatively hard or hardened materials,ranging from thin but rigid plastics or metals or thicker less rigidplastics or light weight metal materials. More particularly, theinvention container may be made a stiff, rigid, or relatively thickplastic or a variety of metals, such as of aluminum or steel.

The invention disclosed herein is an improved container comprising ahorizontal bottom (when at rest) defined by a first perimeter having atleast one side element contacting at least one point on said firstperimeter and a number of like said side elements rising along andupward from like said points on said first perimeter to form at leastone side wall at an angle no less than about 10° and no greater thanabout 85° and terminating at a second perimeter lying at points withinat least one horizontal plane. If the container is single sided (i.e.,defined by a single, continuous side wall), the container shape would becircular. If the container comprises three or greater number of sidewalls, its shape could range from triangular to comprising so many sidesit approaches just short of circular. Of course, the container may besingle sided and be oval, instead of a perfect circle. The container topopening is formed when said second perimeter terminates at points lyingwithin at least one multiple horizontal plane. The container top may beshaped to permit one portion of its second perimeter to be formed by amultiple of the top opening's horizontal planes to be progressivelylower traveling from one side of the container to an opposing side ofsaid container. The container's top, formed by a second perimeter, maybe larger than its bottom when the top represents an area larger than ashape defined by the bottom, or the first perimeter. One embodiment ofthe invention improved container is shown in FIG. 4.

The container's slanted bottom, permitting it to be stabilized whenresting on slanted surface, is provided by the angle betweencorresponding points along each of the bottom perimeter and the topperimeter is from 20° to 85°. More preferably, the angle so describedmay be between 40° and 75°. Most preferably, the angle so described is65°. When the invention container may be held in an upright positionwhere the top opening lies in a singular horizontal plane, the describedangular side walls will exhibit the appearance of the bottom beingslanted. Thus, when the bottom perimeter lies within a single horizontalplane, such as when at rest, it is the walls that appear slanted. Thisrelationship between the invention container's bottom and top can beappreciated by comparing FIGS. 5 and 6.

Furthermore, when the container rests on a slanted surface, such as abuilding roof, due to the nature of the resultant change in its centerof gravity as well as the nature of a typical asbestos shingled roof,the container is unlikely either to slide downward or to tip over whenempty or when filled with tools or other materials. While the containeris unlikely to slide along, or even off, the roof, an embodiment of theinvention includes the application of a rough surface on the exteriorsurface of the container bottom. This can be accomplished in variousways. One application involves merely affixing (including but not to theexclusion of gluing) sandpaper on the bottom so the sandpaper comes incontact with the roof's surface. Another method for providing a roughexterior surface to the invention container bottom is to coat the bottomwith a tacky substance, such as glue, followed by resting the containerbottom on a sand surface or pushing it into a collection of sand so thesand particles become affixed to the bottom exterior surface. There arealso many other ways that the exterior bottom rough surface may beachieved that are envisioned within the scope of the herein disclosedand claimed invention.

The foregoing descriptions and drawings representing embodiments of theinvention disclosed and claimed herein are explanatory and illustrativeonly, and changes in shape, sizes, and arrangements of parts as wellcertain details of the illustrated construction may be made within thescope of the appended claims without departing from the true spirit ofthe invention.

While the present general inventive concept has been illustrated bydescription of some embodiments, and while the illustrative embodimentshave been described in detail, it is not the intention of the applicantto restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to suchdetail. Additional modifications may readily appear to those skilled inthe art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limitedto the specific details, representative apparatus and methods, andillustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures maybe made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope ofapplicant's general inventive concept.

It is also noted that numerous variations, modifications, and additionalembodiments are possible, and, accordingly, all such variations,modifications, and embodiments are to be regarded as being within thespirit and scope of the present general inventive concept. For example,regardless of the content of any portion of this application, unlessclearly specified to the contrary, there is no requirement for theinclusion in any claim herein or of any application claiming priorityhereto of any particular described or illustrated activity or element,any particular sequence of such activities, or any particularinterrelationship of such elements. Moreover, any activity can berepeated, any activity can be performed by multiple entities, and/or anyelement can be duplicated. Accordingly, while the present generalinventive concept has been illustrated by description of severalembodiments, it is not the intention of the applicant to restrict or inany way limit the scope of the inventive concept to such descriptionsand illustrations. Instead, the descriptions, drawings, and claimsherein are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not asrestrictive, and additional embodiments will readily appear to thoseskilled in the art upon reading the above description and drawings.

That which is claimed is:
 1. An improved container defined by a bottom,at least one side wall, and an open top, wherein the improvementcomprises a horizontal bottom, when at rest, defined by a firstperimeter having at least one side element contacting at least one pointon said first perimeter and a multiple of like said side elements risingalong and upward from like said points on said first perimeter to formsaid at least one side wall at an angle no less than about 10° and nogreater than about 85° and said side elements terminating at a secondperimeter lying at points within at least one plane defined by said sidewall angle and terminating at respective points lying within at leastone horizontal plane.
 2. The improved container of claim 1 having asingle continuous side wall producing a circular container.
 3. Theimproved container of claim 1 having four side walls producing arectangular walled container.
 4. The improved container of claim 3,wherein said rectangular walled container is in the shape of anequilateral rectangle.
 5. The improved container of claim 1 wherein saidmultiple horizontal planes of the second perimeter are progressivelylower traveling from one side of said container to an opposing side ofsaid container.
 6. The improved container of claim 2 wherein said secondperimeter is of a shape comprising an area larger than a shape definedby said first perimeter.
 7. The improved container of claim 3 whereinsaid second perimeter is of a shape comprising an area larger than ashape defined by said first perimeter.
 8. The improved container ofclaim 1 wherein said container rests stably when be placed on a slantedroof.
 9. The improved container of claim 2 wherein said container mayreceive an article tossed from a direction facing a side of thecontainer.
 10. The improved container of claim 3 wherein said containermay receive an article tossed from a direction facing a side of thecontainer.
 11. The improved container of claim 5 wherein said containermay receive an article tossed from a direction facing a side of thecontainer.
 12. The improved container of claim 1 wherein said anglebetween corresponding points along each of said first perimeter and saidsecond perimeter is from 20° to 85°.
 13. The improved container of claim12 wherein said angle between corresponding points along each of saidfirst perimeter and said second perimeter is from 40° to 75°.
 14. Theimproved container of claim 12 wherein said angle between correspondingpoints along each of said first perimeter and said second perimeter is65°.
 15. The improved container of claim 2 wherein an exterior surfaceof said bottom is provided with a rough surface.
 16. The improvedcontainer of claim 3 wherein an exterior surface of said bottom isprovided with a rough surface.
 17. The improved container of claim 9wherein an exterior surface of said bottom is provided with a roughsurface.
 18. An improved method for containerizing, transporting andaccessing roofing tools while applying roofing materials to a roofsurface of a building or structure, wherein the improvement comprisescontainerizing, transporting and accessing roofing tools using thecontainer of claim
 1. 19. An improved method for containerizing,transporting and accessing roofing tools while applying roofingmaterials to a roof surface of a building or structure, wherein theimprovement comprises containerizing, transporting and accessing roofingtools using the container of claim
 2. 20. An improved toss gameinvolving tossing an article aimed at landing within a target from adistance away from said target, wherein the improvement comprises usingas said target the container of claim 1.